Colourful – Page 6 – tim dobbs photography

My 1st ever Photo workshop for my 50th Birthday…………….

I turned 50 years of age 2 weeks ago and part of my present from my wife was a Photography Workshop run by Nigel Forster of Creative Photography Wales.

It was a Brecon Beacons Heritage & Landscape course, As I have never been on a workshop before I didn’t really know what to expect but after meeting Nigel at his home I was put at ease from the off.We visited 4 locations during the day ……The Guardian at Six Bells, Blaenavon Ironworks, Big Pit and lastly we walked up to Llangattock Escarpment giving stunning views over the beautiful welsh landscape.The Workshop ran from 9:30 til 7:30 and was a great day at locations that I have never visited before.

All images were shot on my Nikon D600 with the 24-85mm and processed in Lightroom.

Some links related to this workshop

http://www.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk/leisure/14674.asp

http://www.countryfile.com/days-out/llangattock-escarpment-brecon-beacons

http://www.creativephotographywales.com/index.php

Thanks for looking…. click on an image to view larger

Bridgend Show with my Fuji X-Pro & 35mm f1.4………

Popped along to the Bridgend Show on Sunday with just the X-Pro 1 and 35mm f1.4 with the intention to shoot as much as I could as near wide open as I could but it was rather bright and sunny so managed f2.0 -f4.0 and the camera and lens performed superbly.

All images shot Raw and processed in Adobe Lightroom 5 using the Adobe Fuji camera profiles, quite pleased with the colours but still not as sharp as with Capture One Pro but getting there.

Click on an image to view larger …….

Thanks for looking 🙂

D600 and Capture One Pro …….

Since getting my D600 and also my Fuji X-Pro1 I have noticed a pronounced slowdown in the performance of Lightroom 5.

Also Lightroom does not get the best out of my Fuji Raw files which tend to be soft and flat unless I spend extra time processing them.

After reading a lot of advice on the web I thought I would give Capture One Pro a trial run just to see if there is any improvement.Straight away the speed increase was 10 fold, the import and rendering of previews were very impressive with my 24meg D600 raw files.

Also the default rendering that Capture One gives the images was very pleasing.

I opened the “Merlin Stone” Raw image at the top of this post in Camera Raw after seeing the Capture One version and was so impressed with the depth in the colours and the sharpness of the image.

I could not get Camera Raw to render anywhere near what I got from Capture One.I get emails from PhaseOne quite regularly with money off offers to purchase their software and as soon as I get the next one I will be investing in this, the learning curve is quite steep as I have used both Lightroom and Aperture for ages but PhaseOne has loads of tutorial videos on their Youtube channel so I have plenty of viewing to do 🙂

I am looking forward to seeing the difference I can achieve with my Fuji Raw files next if the D600 images are anything to go by I will be very pleased.

Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger……

“Race for Life” …….

My wife Annette and her sister Bethan both entered the Bridgend “Race for Life” event on sunday and me and the kids all popped along to show support and also document the day.

Here are a selection of the images from the day.

for more info on the “Race for Life”event for Cancer Research uk please check here :

http://raceforlife.cancerresearchuk.org/index.html

Just click on an image to view larger……………

Contact me if anyone featured here would like a copy of the image 🙂

Back to shooting some film again……

As its Easter Bank holiday and the weather here has been quite nice for a change I made the most of the time and got out shooting some film again.My camera of choice was the Mamiya 645 with the 80mm f2.8 and a roll of Kodak Ektar 100.The light up in the forestry was changing minute to minute so I didn’t know what the results would be, I was going from 1000sec @ f11 to 60sec @ f2.8 so I was quite happy when I scanned the negs that there was minimal camera shake on the slower ones ( didn’t take my damn tripod)All in all I was pleased with the results, it was nice to just have 15 shots to play with rather than the hundreds I have shot with my new Fuji X-Pro 1 lately.I will be shooting a lot more Ektar in the future I like the sharpness and the colours it gives, may try some portraits next just to see how thay come out.Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger………..

Another roll of colour film for a change ……..

The weather here has been terrible over the last few weeks and getting out with the camera has been difficult.

I loaded my Nikon FM2n with some expired Kodak Colorplus 200 over 3 weeks ago and only managed to finish it yesterday.

The colours that this film produced were very pleasing when scanned and complimented the subject matter, nicely subdued.

I must say that the FM2n is by far my favorite camera to use especially with the 50mm 1.8 its a quality piece of kit.

I am looking to get a Nikkor 35mm f2.8 Ai which in combination with the FM2n would be my everyday film camera. Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger…….

Garw Carnival 2013 & Kodak Portra 400………..

I love my Nikon F4s but as I seem to have collected 50+ cameras over the last 12 months I don’t get to shoot with it very often.

This weekend I decided to load it up with some film and attempt to shoot with it but when I opened the back I realised I had a rewound roll of Kodak Portra 400 sitting in it.

As I have not developed any colour film for a while I was not sure if my C-41 chemistry was shot or not but I thought I would give it a try. (I didn’t even know what was on the film)

To my surprise when the film came out of the tank it was from last years Garw Carnival back in September if I remember correctly and the negs seemed to look ok albeit with a slight yellow cast but after scanning I liked the look so didn’t colour correct them.

Moral of this little story is make sure you remove completed film rolls from your camera and also make a note of what you actually shot on it 🙂

Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view Larger…….

Any comments greatly appreciated 🙂

Testing the Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG…………..

Last week I rented a lens from Lensfettish.com as I had a 30% discount code so I decided on the Sigma 35mm f1.4DG as I had read reviews about it and wanted to see if it was as good as I had heard.

On opening the box I was surprised at the size and weight of the lens compared with my DX Nikon 35mm 1.8 and my Sigma 30mm 1.4, it was a bit of a beast.

The first shot I took in the kitchen (above) was wide open at f1.4 and I was blown away even looking at the camera screen. The lens was razor sharp 🙂

I proceeded to shoot loads of random stuff around the house before popping out for a quick walk.

The sharpness and contrast of this lens was astounding even wide open the point of focus was so sharp and at f8 the detail was stunning.

The following day we popped to Cardiff and I did a little street shooting mainly between f2.8 and f4 and again the lens performed great.

On the Sunday (my last day before returning the lens) we went along to the Bridgend Show where I gave it one last run out and again the resultant images were so pleasing.

I must admit that if I had a spare £699 in my pocket I would buy this lens in a shot, the 35mm focal length was very nice as a walk around lens just a bit more versatile than my Nikon 50mm f1.4 afs which is my usual goto lens.

I also tried it on my Nikon F80 and shot a couple of frames but am yet to finish the roll to see how it performed ( I bet is good 🙂 )

Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger……………

Ricoh XRX comes home…………..

Years ago after my 1st couple of cheaper slr’s I was lucky enough to have been given some Pentax mx and a few cracking lenses.

After using the Pentax mx for a while I decided to upgrade but instead of getting another Pentax the new camera out at the time was the Ricoh XRX which was all singing and dancing and also had the Pentax K mount so I didn’t have to change my lenses.Last week I came across one on ebay with the starting price of 99p so as I have still got a few Pentax k mount lenses I decided to bid and see how it went.

To my amazement I was the only bidder and got it for the starting price (postage was £6 though).

Eager to be reunited with an old friend I loaded it up with some Fuji Superia 400 and using the 50mm f1.7 and 70-210 f4 went for a walk.

I was really nice to use and to be honest all the modes the camera possessd were really not needed as I have always shot Aperture Priority or Manual.

The lenses performed really well and as my C-41 chemicals were shot I tempted fate and took the film to Tescos but for a change the negs were pretty good no scratches for a change (mind you it was not the Bridgend store it was the Talbot Green one).

I am not sure how often I will be using this camera but it is really nice to have one again after all these years.

Click on an image to view larger…………

Thanks for looking 🙂

Trying out some Kodak Ektar………….

I mainly shoot B&W film and process it myself but bought some Kodak Ektar recently and was waiting for a reasonably bright day to go out and give it a try.I have looked at images on the web shot on this film and read how sharp it was and I was not disappointed.

As it wasn’t a sunny day, it was pretty overcast I was shooting from f1.8 – f4 for the whole roll and the images really popped.I am not totally pleased with the colours but I am putting that down to my chemicals coming to the end of their life, I am sure if I change them the colours will be a bit more vibrant.

Mind you my subject matter wasn’t the most colourful in the first place 🙂

I also have some Kodak Portra 400 and will be giving that a try soon to, I love the look Portra gives to people. Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger…………